You may have products that are needed to fulfil consumers needs, however, with competition increasing on a daily basis- not offering information that is required to influence their purchase decisions can hamper growth.

​Content marketing is here since quite a while now, however, the resources accepted by online shoppers have gone far beyond templates and email marketing campaigns.

But the question, are you adapting content marketing methods that are being accepted by consumers over time.

Editorial content an effective buzzword for seller in this year 2016

Price can surely be one of the most important influencing factors to online shoppers; however, content is helping sellers to differentiate their brand and products from competitors across the web.

What is editorial content?

When I say content it does not limit to product descriptions but with the popularity of digital channels, content is now being offered in a way to educate consumers and not just offer them a bunch of selling ads. This can be known as an editorial content marketing effort.

To make it easy for you, I have chosen few eCommerce brands that are performing excellent editorial content marketing strategies.

Let’s take a look at them:

1. Product tutorial- To demonstrate the use of your product

Beauty Bay, a beauty care brand started off with luxury fragrances and today includes skin care, makeup and hair care products too.

What makes the brand innovative?

This brand allows online consumers an ability to gain access to products tutorials that help them understand the correct choice of product by offering a demonstration of its usage.

Benefit to consumers: Online shoppers have multiple choices to make purchases; however, knowing about the usage of products in the most effective ways can help them enhance their purchases each time they shop online.

What you can do?

In 2015, the number of digital video users in The United States surpassed 200 million. Considering this, adopting product tutorial strategy can help you present multiple usages of your products and increase awareness among potential consumers.

Tip: You can individually showcase usage for each, or even offer a mixture of product video tutorials.

This brand makes it easy for online consumers to stay updated with the latest products in the fashion world, as well as, gain access to innovative inspirations for enhancing their style-quotient and purchase decision with time.

Benefit to consumers: Allowing digital edition of knowledge-resource (magazine) via a mobile app can eliminate consumers to switch over multiple sites across the web.

What you can do?

Potential consumers won’t mind sticking with a brand if it allows them to do so. Having consumers an ability to be updated with the latest styles and trends via their smartphones can help them ensure they are able to access information on-the-go.

Tip: Offering a magazine app can be effective; however, ensuring your blog page is mobile optimized can help you frequently convert potential audience to regular visitors and shoppers too.

This brand allows online consumers to get creative and showcase their own style using Free People clothing and products. It’s FP Me profile is allowing fashionistas multiple opportunities to become famous for their classy styles and trends.
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Benefit to consumers: Helping consumers to be a part of a brand mixed with some fun will automatically encourage more and more people to participate and gain popularity in their online networks.

What you can do?

Be it your social media business account, or, your online selling website, encouraging consumers to be associated with your brand, for example allowing them to share a photo of themselves posing with your products, will help you create a buzz among other fashionistas in the online world.

Tip: Announcing a free gift for every image shared by your consumers, can result to better participants.

4. User-generated reviews- To enhance purchase decisions

Stitch Fix, a personal styling service allows consumers to style and receive their clothing and accessories as per their requirements.

What makes the brand innovative?

This brand itself is an innovative eCommerce business idea, additionally; by displaying user-generated customer review surely is an add-on for consumer’s purchase decision.

Benefit to consumers: Shopping online, especially fashion and lifestyle products can be tricky if consumers are not offered with some trust marks. And, direct voice of consumers who have already used the product can give you an opportunity to refrain a consumer from taking a second thought.

What you can do?

Extracting reviews from your repeat customers can be effective rather than targeting all blindly. Therefore, by using contact management software and analyzing your customer’s shopping behaviour, keep posting direct-voice of customers on your selling site and social media platforms too.

With the above, whichever way you go, the kind of content you offer will determine the bonding with online consumers by offering them materials they would like and reflect their ever-changing lifestyles and interests.

I’m sure you may have come across a number of content marketing articles in the past, this is another one :)

Have you ever imagined why content is always the most discussed topic?

Content marketing isn’t new, however, with the evolution of eCommerce and technology online shoppers are constantly finding ways that can allow access to products and information in the most engaging way.

In this crowded market, are you earning maximum visibility for your products? Despite your best offerings, not having an appropriate content marketing strategy can hamper your eCommerce business growth.

Therefore, I decided to come up with this article to help sellers focus on those content boosters that will be preferred by online shoppers in this year 2016.

Let’s take a look at them:

1. Mobile

In a report by Statista, the mobile internet users resulted to 52.7 percent across the globe. It also estimated an approximate 10 percent more users will access online content through their mobile devices by 2017.

If you overlooked the importance of mobile in your content marketing strategy, try and offer the content layout that can best sync to an individual’s devices.

- Offer more and more content in the form of videos

Like any other sellers, you may be running an SMS content marketing campaign. But, instead of offering information in words, why not market it over small video clips and send it as an attachment.

Allowing access to your products and offers in the form of a video can trigger customer’s mind to take action on-the-go.

2. Social commerce

Rewind a decade and you’ll realize that social media platforms were merely looked as sites to make new friends and chat with them. Today, as per another report by Statista, over 70 percent of the United States population had a social networking profile, which is expected to reach approximately percent by the end of this year 2016.

Considering the above figures, I’m sure you would not like to overlook the importance of offering great content across your multiple social business accounts.

- Be present on multiple social media sites and automate content management

Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest have already increased its popularity among online shoppers. However, ignoring the important of running your content marketing tactics across other popular social media platforms can lose your audience who may not be present on other leading platforms.

Automated​ content can offer a win-win situation

Hootsuite- a social media management tool is sound among successful sellers that is helping them to automate and manage content and post while offering powerful insights on performance for each strategy you’ll perform on your social media business accounts.

3. Website blogging

​Considering the returns of a blog page to be not so instant, many sellers avoid this long-term engagement source in their content marketing strategy. Ecommerce owners with limited budget often overlook the importance of this source, however, it can make wonders if it compliments your online store.

What you can do?

The uniqueness of your content will determine the performance of your blog page, however, the way you present will add-on the customer’s engagement level. You may cover the best topics and trends; however, adapting a boring theme for your blog page can lose you admirers.

Lookbooks can be an alternate of a blog page, which has been adopted by leading fashion brands from across the globe.

Example of an innovative content-offering page from Forever21​

4. Visuals/photos

As shoppers are unable to feel and touch the product while purchasing online, the impact of visuals and images will continue to be major elements to influence their purchase decisions.

Considering the fact more and more sellers are seen to be offering visual-impact shopping experience, displaying irrelevant, or even, excessive images can annoy online shoppers.

Last, but the one of the earliest content marketing methods, email is still the king. You will see a number of sellers offering pop-up boxes to allow online shoppers subscribe and stay in line with their latest content and offerings.

Are you one of them? Do you get sufficient sign-ups?

Allowing online shoppers a sign-up box for your email subscription is surely helping sellers many opportunities to re-target customers, however, not offering a reason for sign-up will automatically lead to poor conversion rates.

What you can do?

Small discounts are helping sellers improve their email sign-ups, however, using the strategy repeatedly can eat up capital, as many online shoppers do so in order to take an advantage of the discount and may not be interested in your email marketing campaigns.

Apart from offering monetary benefits, why not trigger the customer’s mind with content that reflects a value and makes them feel worth to sign-up for your email marketing campaigns.

In addition, contact management software will help you organize your customer’s details at one place, allowing to analyze the demand and offer excellent content to your customers, always!

Example of an effective sign-up content layout from Gap Factory

Wrapping up

Keep measuring:I’m sure every online seller produces content to attract and engage shoppers, however, the way you offer your content is essential.

With the above tips, you can ensure your focus in offering content in a way that really matters to any online shopper, however, constant tracking and measuring your content performance against those areas will help you understand what is missing.